rip van winkle gardens

This is a beautiful and peaceful place to walk and eat. I highly recommend. The peacocks are beautiful.

I've been here several times. A nice spring day, takes you back in time. The flowers are all in bloom. The beautiful oak trees, having lunch in their café, just sets for a perfect day. The tour of the house is just lovely.

This is a lovely place to visit. The gardens and the history of the area is truly amazing. The cafe is a fun place for lunch with great views of the lake. Give yourself a treat and visit.

We spent one morning here taking the house tour and wandering around the property. The tour was full of history and the grounds front on a small lake and are well cared for. Its a very pretty site.

The house and gardens are beautiful. The resturant over looks the lake. Spring is a good time to visit and enjoy the flowers. Have lunch at the cafe - open every day at noon.

This really made my birthday very special! All the people were friendly and really enjoying what they do. Beautiful gardens even in January. This place is beautiful any time of year but I can't wait to go back and visit in the spring when everything is blooming. Loved the peacocks :)

Omigosh - just beautiful! The trees and the lakeside were lovely. I vaguely remember the Lake Peigneur salt mine accident, but out of such a disaster, the beauty of this place is amazing!

We did not take the tour, but enjoyed lunch in Cafe Jefferson. My $13 salad was enough for a whole carload of folks! My husband enjoyed his gumbo...and half of my salad.The rolls were plentiful and fresh-baked. A nice treat!

Years ago I worked here as a tour guide and always wished they'd open a full service restaurant and turn some of the cottages into guest houses. Well, they finally did and it's wonderful! The food in the restaurant (we went for lunch) was great and very reasonably priced. We also took the house tour and they're really spruced it up plus added some art work and other pieces and it was of course as beautiful as ever. The walk around the gardens was nice and romantic also (except for the elementary school kids there on a field trip running around spoiling our romantic vibe.) although a little short. The gardens are beautiful but let's face it, you can only put so many paths in a garden so you soon run out of new things to see. Overall, great experience, and we're looking forward to enjoying dinner there and maybe staying over night in a cottage.

This place has it all - wonderful gardens,a great restaurant overlooking the lake (try the crab au gratin or the shrimp remoulade),and ,most important, quaint servants quarters for overnight visitors. Good value and a great place to get off the beaten track.

Three of us took an overnight trip to New Iberia and took the garden tour. We had planned on staying at the cottages on the garden grounds but they were not available at the time. The weather was perfect and even though most things were not flowering, it was still serene and lovely. The history of the grounds and the home's original owner, Joseph Jefferson, are very interesting. It was also the site of "the accident of 1980", when drilling for oil, the salt mine was pierced! I googled it on my return home and it is incredible to watch the footage of the lake draining. We did not try the cafe, but would do so on a return visit. We were disappointed that not a peacock could be seen that day, as we were told they had been all over the day before!! They are adding more cottages and I would definitely go back to stay on the grounds!!

I was in town for business but also brought my wife a day early for a little getaway. New Iberia has a lot to offer. Luckily for me, a friend of mine lives there and gave me a quick tour of what to see. The most impressive site, by far, was the Rip Van Winkle Gardens.We started with lunch. It was perfect. The restaurant faces the lake and has floor to ceiling windows (or you can eat outside if you like). The food was delicious, large portions, and quite reasonably priced (about $25 for the two of us). If I had any complaints it was that they brought three homemade rolls to the table for two people. The rolls were so good that when we got to the last one, I could hear Tina Turner in my head giving the Thunder Dome rules - luckily my wife kept her head and we just split the roll.After lunch we took a stroll through the botanical gardens. It was a cool October day and the garden was beautiful.Finally, and only because the lady in the gift shop insisted, we took a tour of Joseph Jefferson's Mansion (offered on the hour). I am so glad we did. Not only is it an amazing time capsule to the 1800's (great for a Steampunk like myself) but the tour guide (Ms. Phelps) was quite possibly one of the best tour guides I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She brings the house to life with fun anecdotes and a infectious southern energy. The Gardens and the 40 minute Tour are $10 per person. Don't forget to tip Ms. Phelps - I wasn't sure if tips were welcomed or not so I didn't - then I felt like a moron when I saw another patron subtly slip her one.

We booked a night in the cooks quarters for a night on our way to New Orleans. We arrived on a Thursday right before five. We went to the gift shop/registration area. The gift shop was closing, but we were told the back door on our cottage was open and to make ourselves at home. We quickly unloaded our bags, and began exploring the gardens before dark. Around every corner, there was something to marvel at, from the sunset over the Lake, to the old bomb shelter. The next morning we took the tour of the main house, and found out the history of the island, which was so interesting, especially after spending the previous night exploring. This is a special place, well worth the trip.

The grounds are beautiful and a comfortable walk around. We did not take the opportunity to eat at the restaurant, but it appeared to be a good stop. There are nice looking bed/breakfast cabins that are probably worth a try if they compare at all to the rest of the gardens. There is a gift shop that was nicely stocked - even had some Jones drinks (had never heard of them before). The home tour was worth the wait (1 tour per hour) and I was sorry that only the downstairs was available to tour. There were peacocks and really interesting garden decorations that were imported. A really nice 2-3 hour break from driving.

I was in AW of this place. I have never seen a humming bird before ( I live in the city) and as soon as I pulled up they were flying every where. The lady behind the counter was a sweetheart. A lot of history with the house and gardens. There is also a bed and breakfast there which I hope to stay there one day. If you visit New Iberia put this on your list to visit. There is also a restaurant there I heard the food was great but a little pricey.